CONVICTED (2024) | Kyle Hollingsworth, born 21 June 1991, of Moor Street Mansfield – repeatedly punched and kicked a police dog.
Lifelong thug Kyle Hollingsworth was jailed after kicking and punching a police dog
Violent career criminal and drug addict Hollingsworth was reported to police after he broke into a woman’s back garden in Gladstone Street, Mansfield, and began banging on windows.
A dog officer on routine patrol attended the scene at around 9.30pm on 27 October 2023 and challenged Hollingsworth in the street. Hollingsworth, who was carrying a large bottle at the time, refused to comply with instructions from the officer and approached her.
PD Max wasn’t badly injured and soon returned to police duties
Doing his job, Police Dog Max bit the thug on the hand and stomach.
Hollingsworth then lashed out at at the dog and continued to punch and kick him even after he was taken to the floor.
Hollingsworth was arrested at the scene and later pleaded guilty to criminal damage, affray and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
The court heard Hollingsworth has 44 previous convictions for 100 offences, including criminal damage, threats and abusive behaviour. He was last before the courts in 2022 for dwelling burglary and a string of thefts
Max, a two-year-old German shepherd who already has an impressive service history, escaped serious injury in the attack and is now back on the beat.
CONVICTED (2021) | Rachel Cawte aka Rachel Stafford, born 17 May 1974, of Beechdale Road, Mansfield Woodhouse, Mansfield NG19 9GQ, and Carl Anthony Wright, born 7 May 1975, of Stockwell Court, Mansfield NG18 5QQ – for the cruel mistreatment of a cat that suffered a catalogue of serious injuries.
Animal abusers Rachel Cawte and Carl Wright.
Black and white cat Lily sustained multiple fractured bones and eventually had to be put down.
Prosecutor Andy Cash said Cawte told a vet that Lily was limping after jumping out of a window, less than a month after Rachel Cawte bought her, in September 2020.
X-rays revealed fractures in her leg and neck, but Cawte refused the vet’s recommendation that Lily be put down.
Lily suffered a series of injuries, the precise cause of which was not established, though Cawte claimed in court that Carl Wright was violent to the cat.
The cat began showing signs of improvement, but was returned to the surgery a month later with a fractured pelvis.
Cawte’s flatmate found Lily and thought she was dead, but Cawte told him “she was simply scared of men”, Mr Cash said.
He took the cat to the vet and on Christmas Day a further examination revealed multiple fractures to her mouth and face, abrasions and trauma, and Lily had to be euthanized.
Cawte later told an RSPCA inspector that, during an argument, Wright threw Lily across the room so hard she squealed in pain.
On another occasion, he claimed Lily got her head stuck in a reclining chair.
Sentencing: Both Cawte and Wright were originally given 20 weeks in prison and banned from keeping pets for ten years. Cawte’s sentence was later reduced on appeal after the court accepted she was in a “domineering relationship” with Wright. The pair have apparently gone their separate ways. She was handed an eight-week prison sentence suspended for two years, and her ban on keeping animals was reduced to just two years (expires November 2023).
CONVICTED (2021) | Paul Boath, born 2 August 1967, of 20 Willoughby Court, Mansfield NG18 4LR – kicked a small dog and threw her over a fence; failed to get treatment for her injuries.
Paul Boath was banned from keeping animals for life after kicking and throwing elderly Cavalier King Charles spaniel Milly over a fence
Paul Boath was disqualified from keeping animals for the rest of his life and sentenced to a 26-week suspended sentence following a prosecution brought by the RSPCA.
Boath was found guilty of causing elderly Cavalier King Charles spaniel Milly unnecessary suffering by the infliction of blunt force trauma and physical violence.
He admitted failing to provide the dog with the proper and necessary veterinary care and attention for the causes of her chronic pain.
Witnesses told the court they had seen Boath kick Milly then throw her over the fence outside his house.
RSPCA Inspector Rachel Leafe, who led the investigation for the animal welfare charity, said: “Boath failed to get any veterinary treatment for Milly’s pain and she had been crying for a week and a half.
“When she was taken to a vet Milly was crying all the time, especially when the right side of her face and right side of her abdomen were touched. Her level of pain was so bad that vets used methadone to make her comfortable. X-rays were taken and revealed she had rib fractures.
The veterinary report said she ‘appeared to be painful or reactive to touching, yelping especially when touched along her right jawbone and later along her lumber vertebral region’.
Despite receiving extensive veterinary care and treatment, sadly Milly later suffered heart failure and was unable to breathe so vets made the difficult decision to put her to sleep.
Sentencing: 26 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months; 10 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days; Alcohol Treatment Requirement; £872 in costs and charges. Banned from keeping animals until further notice.
CONVICTED (2021) | Babatundi ‘Baba’ Edwards, born 9 December 1991, of Pinxton Court, Mansfield NG18 3RS – slammed a helpless dog to the ground before launching a sustained and vicious attack on him.
Father-of-three Babatundi Edwards was caught on camera attacking Staffordshire bull terrier Bandit.
The court heard how the dog ran out of a block of flats on Pinxton Court and hid under bushes, cowering and shaking, while Edwards shouted for him to come back.
Bandit slunk back, low to the ground and appeared to be terrified before Edwards grabbed him, lifted him above his head and threw him ‘forcefully’ to the ground where he landed on his head and back.
Edwards then jumped on the dog, punched and kicked him ‘multiple times’ and attempted to strangle him, before returning to his flat.
The incident was filmed by a neighbour after she heard Bandit’s terrified yelps. The court heard the neighbour had been concerned about the dog’s welfare for some time.
A vet said the impact of being hurled to the floor could have broken the dog’s neck – and kicking him could have been fatal.
Summing up, the prosecutor said that Edwards was “clearly not fit to be responsible for any animal of any sort. It was a prolonged course of violent behaviour.”
When interviewed by police, Edwards said: “Bandit didn’t know how to be a dog.” adding that the dog’s training wasn’t going well.
Abbie Edwards, mitigating, said her client had no previous convictions and there had been no offences since. His other dog , Roxi, was taken from him.
“There is simply no justification for this offence and Mr Edwards recognises that. He deeply regrets his actions.”
She said he owned his own dog for many years with no issues, but a friend asked him to look after Bandit and then failed to reclaim him.
Edwards admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
Sentencing: 18-week custodial sentence, suspended for two years, with 10 rehabilitation days to tackle his anger management issues; £205 in costs and charges. Disqualified from keeping all animals for 10 years (expires April 2031).
CONVICTED (2019) | Scott Weatherer, born c. 1975, of Highfield Road, Clipstone Village, Mansfield NG21 – carried out a “horrible attack” on a cocker spaniel.
Dog abuser Scott Weatherer
Weatherer appeared at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on Monday, May 20 , 2019 charged with causing “unnecessary suffering to a protected animal” in relation to a spaniel named Bella.
The incident which was described as “a horrible attack”, took place on December 22, 2018 in Bassingham Fen, near Aubourn.
Magistrates treated the offence “as a one off incident” on the grounds that Weatherer was of previous good character and had, apparently, looked after dogs well up to that point.
Sentencing | 18-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months. Costs and charges totalling £615. Banned from keeping animals for ten years (expires June 2029).
CONVICTED (2012) | David James Pogmore, aka David Steemson, born 21/12/1991, of Meden Street, Warsop, Mansfield NG20 – subjected a springer spaniel to gratuitous violence.
Magistrates heard that feral savage Pogmore pushed an umbrella into the dog’s throat, stabbed it into the back of her head,and pinned her to the floor with a walking stick.
The dog, known as Ruby suffered a swollen bloodshot eye, bruising and a cut to her head and bleeding at the back of her throat.
In addition to a four-month prison sentence, Pogmore was disqualified from keeping animals for 15 years.
Pogmore’s lawyer conceded her client had “anger management issues” and said he accepted he had “gone way over the top” in his attack on a defenceless animal. No shit, Sherlock?
Skinny-arsed Pogmore’s propensity to temper tantrums was very much in evidence during his appearance on the Jeremy Kyle Show on Wednesday 9 November 2016.
He was apparently on the show to hear the results of a paternity test following an unfortunate fumble with a sexually incontinent halfwit. Imagine then Pogmore’s horror when Jezzer announced his conviction for dog cruelty to several million viewers.
The brute with all the charm of a week-old turd flexed his puny little chest as he looked ready to punch Kyle’s lights out especially when the latter called him “a horrible little man”. Security were, as ever, on hand to prevent a brawl and Pogmore eventually stomped off the show like a giant toddler.
I’m no fan of Jeremy Kyle, but his exposure of a convicted animal abuser, whose photo didn’t even appear in the newspapers at the time, was a job very well done.
David James Pogmore of Warsop, a worthy addition to the #WallofShame.
Sentencing: four months in jail. Banned from keeping animals for 15 years (expires 2027).
CONVICTED (2009) | Gary David Adamson (26/01/1971) of Eaglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees, Owen Anthony Batey (26/11/1968) from Middlesbrough, Christopher John Burgess (24/11/1966) from Mansfield, Kenneth Harold King (14/12/1973) from Newark, Jane Adamson aka Jane Barnes (22/12/1970) of Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, Claire Amanda Parker (15/12/1964) from Gainsborough, and Mohammed Nasir Farooq (16/09/1975) of Bordesley Green, Birmingham
, Clockwise from top left Claire Parker, Gary Adamson, Mohammed Farooq, Owen Batey
Members of one of the UK’s biggest dog-fighting gangs were caught as part of two major investigations into dog fighting by the RSPCA’s special operations unit named Operations Cannon and Castle.
Separate footage obtained by an undercover reporter working on a BBC Panorama investigation into organised dog fighting and a notorious gang, the Farmers’ Boys, also provided the RSPCA with vital video evidence to bring the gang to justice.
Video footage captured Adamson readying his dog for a fight
In a secretly recorded video shown in the programme, Gary Adamson proudly boasts that a dog named as Pablo suffered a “real good ragging” in a half-hour fight with Kenneth King’s dog Chief for £500 prize money. Adamson pulls up the nervous-looking dog by his collar at one point to show multiple white scars on his face, a ripped ear and some stapled wounds.
Gary Adamson – the self-described”Don King” of dog fighting
Adamson was caught on camera naming some of those who attended, while others were tracked down by the RSPCA.
The journalist secretly filmed Adamson’s now ex wife Jane Adamson (now Jane Barnes) at a dog fight.
Jane Adamson / Jane Barnes
When Jane Adamson was interviewed by police, she told officers: “I just did what I had to do.”
Searches were carried out at several premises, including the homes of the defendants. Equipment including several treadmills, training aids, home veterinary kits and prescription only drugs were all discovered by the RSPCA inspectors who investigated the case. Many of the individuals also had elaborate kennel set-ups at their home addresses, along with several pit bull type dogs that had scars from previous fights.
‘Fighting’ dog chained up at Gary Adamson’s home
During a search of Claire Parker’s home, RSPCA inspectors discovered a blood stained fighting pit constructed in the garage. This is believed to be the pit where the fight described by Adamson was held. The inspectors also found three pit bull type dogs, an elaborate set of kennels and treadmills used to train the animals at Parker’s premises.
Dog badly injured after being forced by Adamson’s evil gang to participate in a fight
Adamson boasted how he was the “Don King of dog fighting” and was a top breeder and trader of bull terriers.
Details of Charges and Sentencing
Claire Parker, aka Claire Page, denied all the charges but was found guilty of being present at a dog fight, keeping a premises for dog fighting and possessing three pit bull dogs. She was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison and banned from keeping animals for ten years (expired 2019).
Her late-husband John Parker was also due to stand trial on dog fighting charges, but he died before the hearing while in prison for other offences.
Gary Adamson
Gary Adamson of 9 Seymour Avenue, Eaglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees TS16 0LD pleaded guilty to six charges in connection with illegal dog fighting and was given 23 weeks in prison. He was banned from keeping animals for life.
Mohammed Farooq of 43 Daniels Road, Birmingham B9 5XP was found guilty on two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and possessing training equipment for dog fighting and was jailed for the maximum 26 weeks. Banned from keeping all animals for life.
Owen Batey of 44 Cannock Road, Middlesbrough TS3 7NU was given 23 weeks in jail, having admitted setting two pit bulls on each other, being present at a dog-fight and owning a pit bull. He was disqualified from keeping animals for life.
Christopher Burgess of 44 Nursery Court, Nursery Street, Mansfield NG18 2AJ pleaded guilty to one charge of keeping a banned dog and received 160 hours’ community service.
Kenneth King of Island Cottage, High Street, East Markham, Newark NG22 0QJ admitted eight charges including taking part in dog fights. He was jailed for 23 weeks and banned from keeping animals for life.
Jane Adamson previously of Pacific Drive, Stockton on Tees (current address tbc) admitted one charge: causing unnecessary suffering to a pit bull terrier type dog named Pablo by failing to obtain veterinary attention in respect of injuries sustained in a fight. She was given an 18-month community order and told to pay £150 in costs. She was banned from keeping dogs for 10 years (expired 2019).
An unidentified 17-year-old youth was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and keeping dog-fighting equipment. He was given a six-month referral order and a five-year ban from keeping or owning animals.
Several members of the gang appealed, but these were largely unsuccessful.
A fight broke out inside the court building during which Kenneth King received head injuries. Police had to use a taser to overpower Christopher Burgess.
Claire Parker was sentenced to four and a half years in jail after she crashed her BMW at 80mph and killed a devoted couple.
Lincoln Crown Court heard Parker was estimated to be driving her BMW at 80mph when she crossed over double white lines and moved out to pass two cars and a double decker bus before colliding with the couple’s vehicle.
